Loyal Servants
by SetszukiLeroux
Summary: Narcissa Malfoy supported Voldemort. But how can she now, since he has taken her only son and made him a monster like his father?


**Author's Note: I wrote this story out of sudden inspiration while I was doing my Science homework at the computer (which was, by the way, very boring). I am not sure whether I will continue it or not, although I do have ideas for the next chapter forming in my mind already. I suppose it is up to the reviewers to decide if there will be a second chapter or not. This is, I might also add, my first Harry Potter fan-fiction, so I hope you will be nice and avoid flaming at all costs. Constructive criticism is always welcome, though, and yes, I can tell the difference between a flame and a criticism, so don't you fret about that. Please enjoy and review when you've finished!**

**Loyal Servants**

She leaned back into the cushions of the parlor couch, her mind boggled and her feelings in turmoil. She longed for her husband to be there, to comfort her, to tell her what to do. But he would not be returning, not for a long, long time. Since he had angered the Dark Lord, he would be in Azkaban until quite possibly his dying day. The entire Malfoy family was subjugated to the Dark Lord, and from him there was no escape. There was no escape for her husband, nor for her, and now there was no escape for her son either.

Her sixteen-year-old son -- old enough to make his own decisions, yet not old enough to realize their consequences. He was naïve, and always had been. She had done her best to shield him from his father's practices, hoping to keep him from following the same path as Lucius. She had saved him from Lucius' wrath when he had done stupid things as a child, had protected him, like a mother should. But now not even she could save him.

Perhaps she had protected him too well, not allowed him to see enough of the world, enough of what could happen if he were to go where Lucius had gone. She blamed herself for never forbidding him from joining the Dark Lord's forces. Now it was too late.

Draco had been acting oddly -- with good reason. He was a teenage boy whose father had just been arrested and sent to the most formidable prison in the Wizarding World, never to be released. The one person he had admired most and looked upon as perfect, as someone who never made mistakes, who had never messed up in his entire life, was now gone forever.

Draco had suddenly realized that Lucius was indeed not flawless, and it destroyed entirely the image he had had of his father in his mind. But Narcissa knew now that this was not the only reason for his behavior.

He had realized that his life was destined to end the same way. And Narcissa was forced to see it also.  
Earlier that evening, she had walked into Draco's bedroom, to tell him that she was going to retire to her bedroom, since he was always awake long past the time she went to sleep. However, when she walked into his bedroom that night, he was already sleeping, though fully clothed on top of his covers. His arm was hanging over the side of his bed, and his sleeve was pushed up past his elbow.

Narcissa walked across the room to where he slept and watched him for a moment. He looked so much like his father she could have sworn it was Lucius sleeping on that bed, were it not for his much smaller size and youthful face. Her eyes drifted unconsciously to his arm dangling limply next to her.  
Her breath caught in her throat, and she must have stopped breathing for hours. Her heart beat so quickly that it nearly jumped out of her mouth and she could feel her hands begin to shake.

"No," she mouthed noiselessly. On the pale skin of her son's arm she saw emblazoned a black skull with an opened mouth, an equally dark serpent slithering its way out -- the mark of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

She felt too lifeless to cry, too shocked to scream, and too resentful to wake him and shout out her lungs at him. It wasn't Draco she was vehement toward anyhow. Voldemort had caused every ounce of torment she had endured during her lifetime, and she was ashamed that she should be loyal to him, yet she could never leave him. She was not ignorant -- there was no way out for her. And now that Draco had succumbed to the ways of his parents, there was no way out for him either.

Narcissa had supported the Dark Lord, not actively like her husband, but she had always been faithful to him. That was before he had taken her son from her. Now Draco was doomed, along with Lucius, and soon herself. She would willingly sacrifice herself if Voldemort would spare Draco, but he would do no such thing. He showed no mercy for anyone, let alone the wife of a Death Eater who had failed to complete a mission the Dark Lord had entrusted him with.

The Malfoy line was going to end abruptly, and they would only be remembered as traitors who had followed the Dark Lord by those that apposed Voldemort, and as failures and fools by those who supported him.

**-- SetzukiLeroux**

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